Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

sērĭō, adv., v. serius fin.

1. sērĭus, a, um, adj. [perh. for sevrius; root sev-, severus; Gr. σέβας, σεμνός], grave, earnest, serious, opp. to sportive, jocular (class. only of things; severus, both of persons and things): res (opp. jocosae), Cic. Off. 1, 37, 134: sermo (opp. jocus), Auct. Her. 3, 14, 25: non res potissimum seria, sed quasi ludus ac jocus, Lact. 2, 18, 3: graves seriaeque res, Cic. Off. 1, 29, 103; so, res serias omnis extollo in alium diem, Plaut. Poen. 2, 51: ait rem seriam Velle agere mecum, Ter. Eun. 3, 3, 7; Liv. 23, 7 fin.: dies religiosus ad agendum quicquam rei seriae, id. 26, 17 al.: verba, Tib. 3, 6, 52; cf. Hor. A. P. 107: quaestiones, Suet. Calig. 32: carmina, Plin. Pan. 54, 2: curae, id. ib. 82 fin.: partes dierum, id. ib. 49 fin.: tempus, id. Ep. 4, 25, 3 et saep.: opinor hercle hodie quod ego dixi per jocum, Id eventurum esse et severum et serium, Plaut. Poen. 5, 3, 51: si aliquid serium, etc., Quint. 6, 3, 16: nec quicquam grave ac serium, Tac. A. 3, 50 fin.
With sup.: verba seria dictu, Hor. A. P. 107.
As subst.: sērĭum, i, and more freq. sērĭa, ōrum, n., earnestness, seriousness; serious matters or discourse (often opp. jocus); sing.: si quid per jocum Dixi, nolito in serium convortere, Plaut. Poen. 5, 5, 42: itaque res in serium versa est, Curt. 5, 7, 10: nihil ad serium, Tac. A. 6, 14.
Plur.: quīcum joca, seria, ut dicitur, Cic. Fin. 2, 26, 85: joca atque seria cum humillimis agere, Sall. J. 96, 2: cum his seria ac jocos celebrare, Liv. 1, 4 fin.: per seria per jocos, Tac. A. 2, 13: sed tamen amoto quaeramus seria ludo, Hor. S. 1, 1, 27; 2, 2, 125; id. A. P. 226; Ov. F. 5, 341 al.: mala, Hor. A. P. 451: mea (opp. lusus), Ov. Tr. 1, 8, 31: (Marsus) seria partitur in tria genera, Quint. 6, 3, 108: ille seria nostra, ille deliciae, Plin. Ep. 8, 1, 2.
Of persons, for severus (ante- and post-class.): non ego te novi tristem servum, serium? Afran. ap. Non. 33, 33: amicos serios aspernatur, App. Mag. 98, p. 336, 9: Solon, id. ib. 9, p. 278 fin.; Amm. 26, 2, 2; 29, 6, 1; Treb. Claud. 12, 5; Mam. Grat. Act. 12, 2; Quint. Decl. 15, 3.
Hence, adv. in two forms.

  1. A. sērĭō, in earnest, seriously (mostly anteclass.; a favorite word of Plaut.; not in Cic. or Cæs.): nec joco nec serio, Plaut. Am. 3, 2, 25: si quid dictum est per jocum, Non aequom est id te serio praevortier, id. ib. 3, 2, 40: an id joco dixisti? equidem serio ac vero ratus, id. ib. 3, 3, 9; so (opp. joco) id. Bacch. 1, 1, 42; Ter. Heaut. 3, 2, 30; Liv. 7, 41, 3: vereor serio, Naev. ap. Charis. p. 195; Plaut. Am. 2, 2, 225; id. Cas. 4, 2, 11; id. Ep. 1, 1, 29; id. Merc. 4, 1, 19; id. Ps. 1, 3, 106; 4, 7, 94; id. Poen. 1, 1, 32; 1, 3, 26; 1, 3, 29; id. Rud. 2, 5, 11; 4, 4, 1; id. Truc. 2, 2, 47; 2, 5, 29; Ter. Eun. 3, 1, 3; 3, 3, 22; id. Ad. 5, 9, 18; Liv. 4, 25 fin.; Quint. 1, 2, 1; 9, 2, 14; Plin. Ep. 2, 20, 10.
  2. B. sērĭē, in earnest, seriously: (post-class.) vultu serie pulcro, Aur. Vict. Epit. 15.